The Dynamics of Oppression

Abstract

Asian Indians arrived in South Africa in 1860 during the era of the British Empire. Three occupational groups were represented: indentured agricultural workers, business entrepreneurs and a few professionals. Their presence was not welcomed by White South Africa. The ideology of Apartheid (“separateness”) ushered in oppressive legislation for all Non-Whites from 1948 until the first democratic elections of 1994, a period of trauma, violence and pain for Non-White peoples. This report centres on traumatic personal experiences during Apartheid of 100 Asian Indians, 54 males and 46 females, professional and business people, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, living in segregated racial zones of metropolitan Durban, South Africa. These traumatic incidents yielded six basic themes identified by the technique of constant comparative analysis, a central qualitative analytical approach in grounded theory. Four themes related directly to Apartheid laws; two themes to interactions with the White public and police, invariably involving abuse. The experiences created emotional distress, powerlessness, anger and fear. Few risked protesting discriminatory laws as most were immobilised by fear. Forty-six % judged they adapted to the Apartheid system, and most were aware of its psychological effects. Illustrating with excerpts from the reported experiences, a psycho-socio-political analysis of the dynamics of oppression is presented in the context of the stages of conscientisation to empowerment (Prilleltensky & Gonick, 1996).